More than two months after a man was brutally beaten by another man inside a Pompano Beach movie theater in an incident that was caught on camera, authorities said they've arrested the suspect behind the attack.
The incident happened July 10th at the AMC Pompano Beach 18 theater at 2315 N. Federal Highway.
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WATCH HEREAccording to the Broward Sheriff's Office, the 63-year-old victim said he'd purchased VIP tickets with advanced seating for a film, but when he showed up at the theater, a man and woman were in his seats.
The victim asked the man to move from the seats, and that's when witnesses said the man became hostile and got in the victim's face.
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Surveillance footage released by BSO on Thursday showed the moment the verbal altercation became physical, with the man repeatedly punching the victim in the face until witnesses pulled him away.
The man and the woman he was with left the theater, and the victim suffered injuries to his head and face and was taken to a local hospital for treatment, officials said.
"This guy just kept staring at me instead of getting up," the victim told NBC6 back in July. "I said to the people at this point, who didn't apologize or say thank you, I said 'you guys can just keep the seats.' As I'm walking away, he said 'go run to your wife little boy.' So I turned around and I said 'you know I'm not the one who's being a little boy, you took my seats and you didn't apologize or you didn't say thank you and I let you keep them.'"
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That's when the victim said the man became hostile and attacked him.
"He jumped up, he wanted to fight me, he backed me up, I fell over the stairs and as soon as I fell down the stairs, it was like a boxer being against the ropes, this guy just went to town on me," the victim said.
BSO officials announced Friday that they'd arrested 27-year-old Jesse Montez Thorton II for the attack.
Detectives worked the case for months and received several leads, including an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip that helped identify Thorton as the suspect, officials said.
Thorton was arrested Thursday in Fort Lauderdale and booked into jail on a charge of aggravated battery with great bodily harm. Attorney information wasn't available.
